As quoted in "Some Szilardisms on War, Fame, Peace", LIFE magazine, Vol. 51, no. 9 (1 September 1961), p. 79
Context: It is not necessary to succeed in order to persevere. As long as there is a margin of hope, however narrow, we have no choice but to base all our actions on that margin. America and Russia have one interest in common which may override all their other interests: to be able to live with the bomb without getting into an all-out war that neither of them wants.
“One need not hope in order to undertake, nor succeed in order to persevere.”
As quoted in O Canada: An American's Notes on Canadian Culture (1963) by Edmund Wilson
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William the Silent 33
stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, leader of the … 1533–1584Related quotes
Our Immediate Tasks
Report on the Construction of Situations (1957)
“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.”
Michael Korda, in Success! (1977), p. 284
Misattributed
“To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will.”
Vedânta philosophy : Lectures by the Swâmi Vivekânanda on Râja Yoga (1899), Ch. VI : Pratyâhâra and Dhâraṇâm
Context: To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. “I will drink the ocean”, says the persevering soul; “at my will mountains will crumble up”. Have that sort of energy, that sort of will; work hard, and you will reach the goal.
As quoted in "Close-up : I'm looking for a market for wisdom. : Leo Szilard, scientist" in LIFE magazine, Vol. 51, no. 9 (1 September 1961), p. 75
Variant: If you want to succeed in the world, you don't have to be much cleverer than other people. You just have to be one day earlier.
“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”
“We do not live to think, but, on the contrary, we think in order that we may succeed in surviving.”
“The American system demands success, and in order to succeed we must first believe that we can.”
Source: Success! (1977), p. 284; a portion of this — "In order to succeed we must first believe that we can" — has become widely attributed to Nikos Kazantzakis on the internet, but without citation of any sources.
Context: The American system demands success, and in order to succeed we must first believe that we can. Yet our society, with its intolerance of failure and poverty, traps millions of people in positions where any kind of success seems impossible to contemplate, and in which failure itself is a kind of passive rebellion against their own misery and the social system which created it in the first place.
To succeed it is necessary to accept the world as it is and rise above it.